


The Witching Hour

by UnicornPopcorn14



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: & the others, ADHD Character, ADHD centric, Gen, Mikey's grateful, The bros are doing their best, fic request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26102614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornPopcorn14/pseuds/UnicornPopcorn14
Summary: Here’s a tell-tale of how a young one learned to deal... with himself.Requested by the amazing@smartmovek!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	The Witching Hour

**Author's Note:**

> “I would love to see a fic about ADHD Mikey and how he and his family learn to deal with it. Lots of comfort from his familyyy!” -[@smartmovek](https://twitter.com/smartmovek?s=20)

It started out as a simple outburst. A one just like many others.

But still the statement is not that veracious.

It happened a while ago. Some pretty long while. Or maybe not that long. He’s not sure. The only thing that matters is that everything has started from this simple outburst. Because ‘what else could possibly go wrong?’ is a question that replays in his head way too often.

He always promises to do better. In missions, he tries his best to show up early enough and prepare himself before his brothers decide to ‘go and let him catch up’, but unfortunately it usually ends up that way. For a various of unknown reasons that his mind cannot guess.

And that is a little something on how his brain works, for all it seems. Learning from mistakes isn’t his technical expertise, which then causes him to repeat them over and over again, even when he isn’t intending to.

But man, so many things go wrong with him, even while doing the simplest tasks. Sitting still is a curse on its own, fidgeting is his only means of relaxation, and simply catching up to a conversation is torture.

So when your immediate older brother suddenly points that out in the most irritating way possible, what else can you do except get so worked up?

“Come on, Mikey. Are you even listening to me?”’

“Huh? Oh, yea…”

“Really? Because I think I’ve just asked you a question, and you _haven’t_ answered. So what does this mean… hmmm… yeah, yeah, I think I just figured it out. You weren’t paying attention!”

He frowned.

“Oh no. Don’t give me that look. It’s simple, just stop losing focus-”

“I CAN’T. STOP!”

Aaaand that’s when it started going downhill, as silence engulfed both of them, with Leo most certainly questioning the reason behind the surge, because it isn’t like him to unexplainably scream like so.

Or at least he thinks so.

His brother began asking if he was okay, if something has been bothering him lately. But that was the issue, he didn’t know. They weren’t pent up feelings, and it wasn’t payback from something Leo has said or done. His mind just decided for him to act that way.

He knows what he is. He knows who he is. Mikey. The DJ master and game player. The creative member of the team who can pull off mad skills. The sun that shimmers the family with a bright beam.

Except. That’s what his brothers tell him. He, though? Doesn’t think that highly of himself. Doesn’t think that highly at all, in fact. He’d like to describe himself in two ways. Either the imaginative who gets things done (but at the cost of not even eating or sleeping), or the lazy who can’t do simple stuff like stick to a routine. That’s basically him. Two sides, nothing in middle.

Now he remembers when that happened. He was nine at the time, having a convo with Leo in their little sleepover before heading to bed.

Because two days later, he found his other brother, Donnie, giving him a gift for no special reason, and when he opened the box he discovered that it was a fidget spinner. His young mind couldn’t comprehend its usage at first, but found great interest once he swirled the tiny devil. Aaah the times he spent listening to the humming of the toy for hours while it spun to no end. It entertained him greatly, in ways he never knew he needed to experience before; and as time progressed, so was his use for this toy, as whenever he was trying to calm down, he merely pulls it out and voilà.

And that got him thinking, had Donnie heard the fuss and known that he was having a problem? Had he figured out something about him but hadn’t had the courage to tell him? Because just as Leo was the mini doctor of injuries in the house, Donnie was the therapist. Or the ‘emotional-problem-discoverer’ before they knew that the word therapist existed. Eventually, Mikey took his place once his brother started pulling off the ‘bad boy’ attitude. Quotes indispensable.

But they were 9-11 at the time. Donnie was the smartest as always but still a little soft (believe it or not). Evil (especially towards Leo), but tender. So having him discover a problem in him but refusing to share for the fear of making him feel upset wasn’t that far-fetched at the time. And yeah, sure, it would’ve made him a little upset, but would also relieve him, finally knowing what was wrong with him. What made him feel unlovable. What made him feel unworthy and irresponsible all the time.

But the answer never came. At least not directly.

He forgot to ask.

There’s always some kind of an evil spirit nagging at his mind. The kind that always showers him with false thoughts about himself. The words ‘lazy’ and ‘unorganized’ are always the frequently used attributes. And most of the time he believes it, even though his gut tells him that no, he’s not. Just a little distracted, just a little unfocused. But then the spirit comes back, saying that he should do better, that he’s failing the ones he loves.

Both sides aren’t wrong.

It kept going on like this, until the day came. The day, where his fidget spinner broke. Absolute chaos emerged and he couldn’t control his emotions in any way. Crying, screaming, begging his brother to bring him a new one, fast, NOW. And Donnie tried his best to assure him that he was going to as soon as possible. That settled him for only a bit, before Raph pulled him out of the lab to soothe him more. Kind of worked, but really didn’t. Fidgeting came at its worse and his head was only stuck at the thought of, ‘I need my toy. I need my GIFT’ but in the end sleep consumed him with the help of the oldest’s brushes on his shell.

Three hours later, which by that meant 3AM, he got up groggily to head to the bathroom. Sleepily walking before hearing noises. And not just any noises. Voices. The ones that he could recognize anywhere. His brothers’. He looked around the area to check, and found out that they were coming from Donnie’s lab. The curtain was closed but the place was dark enough for him to notice the light illuminating from the other side. Carefully and noiselessly as possible, he reached there, and peeked in the little space that allowed him to see what’s hidden in the room.

Leo, Raph and Donnie were there, and seemed to be distressed. This might have been one of their ‘big brother meetings’, which would sometimes involve Leo and sometimes not; but it never included him, obviously. They all try their best to have this kind of meeting in a time they are sure he wouldn’t be able to catch them, in order to not raise suspicion. Understandable, even though he’d already caught them a few times, now. But waking up (or staying up) till three in the morning must mean that this was super serious.

He allowed his mind to pacify for his ears to listen,

Leo, “So what do you think we should do?”

Donnie, “I don’t know! Alright?! I’m not an expert on these stuff! My only resource is the internet, which is really limited! This kind of problem needs books and years of studying!”

Raph, “Cool it, Don. I’m sure if we told him he can try and help us, instead of us assuming what he’s-”

Donnie, “NO! Absolutely not! Don’t you know how much that would affect him emotionally?! He’s _ten_! A ten year old shouldn’t think that he has ADHD, or a mental disorder, or a problem at all!”

His eyes widened, taking a shuddering breath for a second while turning around and pushing his shell against the edge of the atrium. He didn’t really get that first word. But a ‘mental disorder’? All this time? And they knew? And didn’t tell him?!

He turned back once he heard the oldest speak,

“And I’m twelve. And you two are eleven. WHY WOULD THAT MATTER?!”

Leo, “SHHHH!”

Raph, “*clears throat* What I’m trying to say is, if we wanna fix a problem, we should fix it from the source. Jus guessing what Mikey _would feel_ after we do something for em can mostly go the wrong way. We gotta ask _him_ about his feelings-”

Leo, “Sorry to interrupt but… do you guys smell that?”

Sniffing noises came out from them, and he stiffened, hoping that Leo was hinting at something else-

Donnie, “*sigh* Alright, Angelo. Come on out.”

Dang it. His scent.

He truly tried to focus on the burning debate of running or entering; yet his feet carried him inside before he gave consent. He timidly stood once inside, head down, but also with a frown. Why did they do this to him?

He’d just heard the answer, and that made him feel worse; because his mind was eating at him to let it out, to burst, to stop keeping his emotions in check; but the reason was based on concern and love, not on selfishness. And that made his fist roll, and his form to shake. And then, he heard it.

“Let it out, Mikey.”

It was a short sentence. A basic order from his genius brother. And he couldn’t keep it in any more. Screaming about how much he was upset that they didn’t tell him, about how it was so unfair for them to do so. Yelling about how much he hated them for keeping a secret _about him_. Questioning how come _they_ had an explanation of _him_ feeling like a failure and not tell him…

And crying about how he loved them.

How he loved them so much.

The conversation ended with a group hug accompanied with apologies, and he quickly fell asleep.

The next few days were only ‘emotional-problem-discovering’ sessions for him. Donnie told him all of what he knew about his condition, and surprisingly to everyone (even him), he wasn’t all that emotionally distressed. The fact that he finally had a justification on why he was acting this way felt great.

From that day on he tried to fix it.

His brothers helped a ton with that, too.

And while most of the major problems got to a bare minimum, there are still some that just… couldn’t. He often thinks about how much time he spends on a drawing or a game till the middle of the night, the hardest thing to regulate, honestly. Losing track of time isn’t something new to him at all, but after getting diagnosed, his brothers set strict timing to head to bed.

It doesn’t always work.

Raph, “Come on, Mikey!”

“Five more minutes!”

“Every time ya say ‘five more minutes’ ya jus stay up till morning!”

“But I need to finish the painting! Pretty pleeeeeease!”

“It’s the middle of the night, Mikey! Finish it tomorrow!”

“But what if I lost the idea?! What if I didn’t like it in the morning? I’d just have to start this all over again!”

“*sigh* Alright, just this once. But I’m gonna set an alarm at three! If I saw ya in the same position, things won’t be pretty!”

“Ay, ay, sir!”

It became three.

He saw him.

Well, that’s a thing he can’t get blamed for. Hyper fixating on his projects is something he can’t control, so unless his family started to create shifts to drag him to bed while he’s in that state, maybe this might work out.

He would never give them that idea, though.

A smile cracks his lips.

He’s currently sitting in the corner of his room, listening to the soft sound his fidget spinner is emitting. He, Mikey, the thirteen year old, littered in bandages after the fight, focusing on the now and only now. Doesn’t matter what’s gone. Doesn’t matter what’s ahead.

He completely misses out the ruffle of the curtain, the footsteps coming to a close, and the scents that suddenly fill the room. The only thing that grabs his attention is the comforting arms that land on his shoulder; The small talks of Leo telling him that he was so brave, of Donnie telling him that he was so stupid, and Raph saying sorry several times for not protecting him.

Maybe he’s missed out some more stuff, too, like the tears that are rolling down his cheeks; and he hopes they’re not obvious.

Looking up at the clock while rubbing his eyes, he pauses.

Welp.

It’s three.

He’s not that worried about it, though. He has his brothers around him, the ones that would literally go to hell and back for him.

What else could possible go wrong?

**Author's Note:**

> Was this realistic enough? I’m very sorry, the internet was my only source! Any misinformation you find can be pointed out and I’ll immediately delete it!
> 
> Gotta thank [@ADHD_Alien](https://twitter.com/ADHD_Alien?s=20) for giving out amazing comics about ADHD experiences! I’ve used a lot of her works as inspirations and it did help! So, if you’re seeing this, thank you so much!
> 
> Hope you liked it, [@smartmovek](https://twitter.com/smartmovek?s=20)
> 
> Wanna make a request? Click [here](https://curiouscat.qa/UniPopcorn1414)!
> 
> Contact me on Twitter! You can find me [@UniPopcorn1414](https://twitter.com/UniPopcorn1414)! <3


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